Participant Info

Species

Bouteloua curtipendula [Andropogon curtipendulus] [Chloris curtipendula] [Cynodon curtipendulus] etc.

Family

Poaceae

CommonName

sideoats grama, side-oats grama

Presence

yes

Status

native

EarliestDate

1984

LatestDate

2000

Ecosystem

foothill, montane, sanddunes

Geobotanical

Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos

Counties

Conejos, Mineral, Saguache

Passes

WildlifePreserves

Great Sand Dunes

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

Comments

NEED IN SITU PHOTOS. Side-oats grama is common to the east and the west of the Watershed, but not much recorded from it. The few locations range from the Great Sand Dunes NPP (Alamosa) to East Willow Creek above Creed (Mineral Co). Bouteloua curtipendula has good forage value for animals both wild and domestic. The USA distribution covers the desert Southwest, the Front Rage Rockies from Canada to Mexico, all the Great Plains and much of the northern Midwest—scattered elsewhere. The species follows the Rio Grande down through New Mexico on through Texas almost to the Gulf of Mexico. B. curtipendula differs from other species of Bouteloua with its inflorescence consisting of a long panicle of very short spikes dangling from one side of the stem. On that features, many taxonomists have separated the species into a genus o its own.

Annotation